Dr. Nicole Roberts Jones has built her career helping others discover their true calling. After leaving her dream job in the entertainment industry to pursue a deeper purpose, she now guides professionals and entrepreneurs to align their gifts with meaningful work.
Her new podcast, “Meaningful Work,” continues this mission, offering listeners practical tools to find fulfillment in their careers. In this candid conversation, Dr. Jones shares insights from her personal journey and explains how faith, purpose and authentic living intersect in the workplace.
Tell us about your background and how you got started on this journey
I’ve been doing this since 1993. I started in this journey when I was in the career I’ve dreamed of since I was seven years old. I was working in the entertainment industry. Back then in 1993, I worked for Viacom’s largest cable network. We had an outreach to over 89 million homes on a weekly basis. Then from there I got elevated into a casting position working on the number one TV show on Fox. And then from there I worked with the entertainment group and what we produced generated over 12.6 billion dollars a year. I’m sharing it with you this way not to brag, but I want y’all to see I was playing pretty big and I was going to all the hot Hollywood parties. You know bumping elbows with all the stars people you’ve seen on TV and you’re still looking at on films. I was living the dream.
But in the dark of the night when I was by myself, I started to feel tormented by that dream because I felt like something was missing. Every time I tried to talk to one of my friends, they would say have you lost your mind? I felt crazy because I loved my job. How could I feel like something was missing?
My good girlfriend invited me to work at a youth program at our church one night. And as I started working with young women that night as their eyes lit up my heart lit up and I said, oh my god. This is the thing I’ve been looking for. This thing was called coaching. I didn’t know that I had a natural propensity to help people get clear what their purpose is and how to align it with the work that they do. That’s how I started on this journey. I’m still producing and casting. What I’m doing is I’m helping you get in the right role that’s an alignment with God’s purpose for your life. And then I’m helping entrepreneurs produce all the ways they should serve people with their gifts.
You recently launched your podcast. Tell us about that
Meaningful Work. In the 30 something years I’ve learned that our purpose matriculates. What do I mean by that? We matriculate through the education system. We go to kindergarten and then first and then junior high and in high school and then on to college. We can’t go from kindergarten to college. Well, my purpose matriculates and so I’m in the merge of my next matriculation with my purpose.
I started working with teenage girls. Those girls started calling me saying hey, Nicole I have the job I always wanted but either something was missing or they’re not getting paid enough. And I started coaching. That’s how I really started coaching and one of them said, you know, you’re my coach. Oh, is that what this is? So, over time I realized I was really gifted at helping women get clear on their gift and because of that I started working with women to develop their own businesses, but in the last year God has really been pushing on me to work with all so fellas. This is for you, too. But I would say 90% of my clients are women so the podcast is called Meaningful Work. My goal is to help you live a life full of meaning and fulfillment and since work takes up 80% of our lives. It really does mean that we’ve got to get you in a place where you’re loving what you do.
Can you tell us who you have coming up on your podcast or how do you select the talent?
First if you haven’t gone go over meaningfulworkpodcast.com the first four episodes I’m a teacher so I’m coming to give you tools. The first four episodes are really helping people I call it cracking the code to what meaningful work means for you. Not your cousin or your auntie or your mate for you.
The guests I’m having in my next series I’m going to do next month probably I don’t know what it’s going to be called. I don’t believe in work-life balance, not possible, but I learned a strategy. It’s my goal to walk through all the quadrants of your life in our episodes, so whether that’s faith whether that’s work whether that’s finances because God does want you to be wealthy. Whether it’s your health all the areas of your life. We’re going to have different guests.
My next couple of guests one is Apostle Isaac Petrie. He wants me to call him Isaac Petrie because I’ve known him for a while and I’m like I can’t call you by your first name, it feels disrespectful. This man of God is phenomenal really, he talks about our inheritance that God has already given us. Dr. Rachel Talton who she calls it having her God job, but she made a shift in her career when she was doing well in the financial industry. But she knew like she knew that she was meant to do something altogether different. I’m also having experts that like I have an interior designer coming up. I have a woman that actually is a farmer and wants to teach you how to grow vegetables in your own garden and she lives in DC. So don’t say you can’t do when you live in an urban city. So, just a mix up, it all so again. We’re touching every area of your life and or your work.
What challenges have you faced as you have grown to get to this point in your life in launching this podcast?
I never intend to launch anything. What happens is I learn a lesson and then because I study so much to learn it I realized when I finished studying it God then says okay teach it.
Here’s what I’ve learned in my own journey your comfort and your conviction can never coexist. See when you get comfortable, that means you’re being lazy. That means you’re being mediocre and God doesn’t deal in mediocre. He doesn’t deal in good enough. He doesn’t want you to settle. So, anytime you’re in a comfortable place, that means it’s time for you to grow. And so that is what I’ve learned is when I get comfortable I’m like, oh Lord, here you come. I know what’s coming.
I’m in a stretch in this place now because I’ve served some corporations over time. I’ve served if I really look at my career trajectory over the last 20 years. I’ve served 90% entrepreneurs 10% corporations and now I have more corporate executives coming to me. For me, it’s all about this. God created you with a gift. You are an answer. Do you know what that answer is and are you standing in it? And when you look at Matthew 6:10, the Lord’s Prayer and that’s the first prayer I learned when I was five, it says thy kingdom come thy will be done. See God has given each of us a piece of how we bring the kingdom here. I talked about this in the first episode and so that’s really my goal in the podcast is to help you understand your place. For you to take your place for you to go after the abundance and having some good fun conversations along the way while we do it.
How do you maintain that balance of having that conversation, keeping your audience engaged?
I stay true to who I am. I’m one part ratchet. Don’t judge me. I’m from South Central LA so you don’t get a little bit. I like a little ratchet music and what’s so funny is half the time I don’t know what it’s saying. My husband always has to say did you hear that? But I still like it. That’s one part second part. You’re gonna get a little funny. I’m a little comedian, but third part you’re gonna get Jesus and guess what God knows I like ratchet music. And he loves me just the same so don’t judge me.
For me, it’s about being true to who you are. So many years I was so busy trying to fit into the box that other people wrote for me. The shoulds I call it. I was shouldn’t on myself. And many of us should on ourselves because somebody else gave us a list of shoes that we buy into. The way that I maintain it is I get clear on I know what I’m called to do. And I know who I’m called to serve anything outside of that. This is right and so but I’m clear to not worry about perception and what other people think and yes, I’ve had to deal with that along the way. And does it hurt. Yes. But I stay focused.
I’ve seen those people that talked about me come on back. There are people that don’t want to talk to you when you’re on the bus. But want to get a ride when you’re on a limo or something like that? I’m not in my limo years yet. Not the Oprah limo years. But I’ve learned how yet keyword on yet.
I’ve just had to be true to myself and not worry about what other people say and just having good girlfriends around you. That you can talk to when you have in a moment. Because as long as you’re in his flesh, you’re gonna feel some kind of way your feelings are gonna get hurt. And my husband too, even though my husband wants to kill them half the time. So, I gotta be careful not to tell him everything.
What role do girlfriends and the community at large play in the way that you foster your connections for the podcast?
One of the things that I say is I encourage people to send me emails. Of conversations they want to have so I’m always going to look for one. Who do I already have in my network because it’s easier to say yes, but also I ask my network if I’m looking for someone in a certain arena. I ask my network and the reason being is because this podcast is not about me. It’s not for me. It’s for every person that tunes in. I want you and mind you I learned some stuff too. So, you’ll see me writing notes when I’m hosting. But I’m really doing it and hone the space for other people.
It’s teasing out ideas. So, even the podcast name I sent out to a group of sisters and I’m corny. So, I can’t remember what the name was that I had come up with and all my friends were like no. I think it was Kingdom Conversation. It was something that was just like they were all like no. And so, letting them give me ideas and then taking the top three and then I let them vote on the top three is how Meaningful Work came up and I was like, oh, I love the full part. It’s really important to have a village around you that supports you.
Listen, everybody plays a different role. You’ve got some people that keep it real that are gonna tell you girl sit your butt down somewhere. Got some of those I have friends that you want to go hang out with and just have a good time and good dance good drink got some of those. You got the friends that are gonna be your cheerleader ride or die, they always have your back. So you’ve got to have the different groups of people in your life. So you know who to go to for what.
What kind of feedback have you received about your podcast and in general the work that you’re doing?
The feedback I’ve been getting has been first of all I had 50 downloads my first day now I don’t know exactly what that means. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But let me tell you something the fact that anybody downloaded anything I was excited and the fact that I got 50 on the first day I was blown away number one. Number two people are saying stuff like they love how I merge. See my goal is to harmonize your work with your faith because your work is active worship. And the comments I’ve been getting from people of how I’ve been merging that are giving them permission to feel the way they feel. Like those of you that feel burned out I’m giving you permission to feel that way. And so I’ve been getting conversations about that. One woman said she had to pull over. Because she thought she was gonna listen while she was driving. She said I needed to take notes. I had to pull over. So, I’ve been getting some great comments and feedback on the podcast.
Give us a mantra or some sort of thought piece that we can take with us today to help us be more joyful
I looked up the word empower and it is going to answer your question. I remember years ago a man tried to hire me to help him get to happy and I said, okay. Tell me what that looks like and he was like, I don’t know. Okay. So how am I gonna help you get to someplace? You don’t know? So I said it’s like me telling you to meet me for lunch and I never tell you the restaurant. And I think sometimes we don’t stop long enough to define what these things are for ourselves.
Empower means give someone the authority or power to do something. Make someone stronger and more confident and it says some other stuff about them claiming rights and stuff like that. But these two definitions I want you to get give someone the authority or power to do something. Make someone stronger and more confident. It’s my goal and God’s goal. God wants you to live a joyful life. He wants you to thrive. That’s why he gave you the authority to do something the power to be something and to live in this thing. That’s why you have gifts and talents the way you do.
And then to make stronger and more confident. My goal is to help you get more stronger and more confident. I believe when you are confident in who you be, Matthew 5:16 let your light among men and women. So when your lights are shining, I call it your brilliance. See, I want you to shine so bright. You need to hand somebody a pair of shades because you know you that bright. That’s what I mean by joy because it oozes out of you. There are people that say Nicole you lit up the room. It’s because I bring joy everywhere I go. You know, I don’t have bad days. I have bad moments, but I don’t have bad days. Why because I find the joy in everything I do even if I’m going through something hard. I find the joy in it.
Where can we find you?
Meaningful and full, but if you spell it wrong, you’re still good to it meaningfullworkpodcast.com or you can go to my YouTube channel if you want to watch it now I’m gonna be honest. I’m a teacher. So YouTube there are slides when I’m teaching so that’s nrjnetwork.com.
What would you consider your superpower to be?
I would consider my superpower to be I don’t want to say my faith because that seems so cliche. But maybe it’s my humor right because I can find funny and everything sometimes it’s not funny, but I can still find the funny. So I think my superpower is that I can find the funny.
